SAN DIEGO — Yasmani Grandal took a couple of five- or six-second pause when requested what went fallacious with the 2022 White Sox.
He’s an excellent individual to ask, contemplating the veteran catcher had performed in seven straight postseasons previous to the disappointing present season that left the White Sox brief. Grandal composed his ideas after which produced a uncooked and sincere evaluation of a crew battling merely to get above .500 with six video games remaining.
“To place it plain and easy, we simply sucked,” Grandal stated on Friday afternoon, earlier than the Sox opened a three-game collection in opposition to the Padres at Petco Park. “Anything can be an excuse. And the very last thing you wish to make as a crew, as a person, is an excuse.
“It’s nearly like a slap within the face. In case you don’t take this yr significantly, it’s going to return again to chunk us within the [butt] subsequent yr once more. Hopefully, we get all the pieces straightened out and are available again subsequent yr and provides it a shot. … It simply appeared like all the pieces that might probably go fallacious went fallacious. Whenever you thought it was sort of coming again, it simply by no means went again. It simply saved going fallacious.”
Requested to outline what it means to take this yr significantly as a crew, Grandal stated, “Understanding what it was that occurred, greater than something.”
Individually, the ’22 marketing campaign additionally was a tricky one for the switch-hitter.
Grandal underwent proper knee surgical procedure in the course of the offseason and spent the time away from baseball rehabbing, persevering with the method in the course of the lockout. He entered Friday with a .200/.301/.269 slash line to go together with 5 homers, 12 extra-base hits, 14 runs scored and 27 RBIs.
Grandal additionally had a torn tendon in his left knee surgically repaired in-season in 2021 however returned sturdy with a 1.154 OPS in 30 video games after returning. With the damage work behind him, Grandal is wanting ahead to a completely ramped up subsequent few months by way of preparing for ’23.
“I’ve a extremely good concept of what it’s I’m going to do, but it surely all is dependent upon my coach,” Grandal stated. “All of it is dependent upon what he needs to tweak and what he doesn’t wish to tweak. We’re going to overview the yr, have the ability to sit down and speak and we’re going to go from there.
“As I’ve gone, it’s gotten higher and higher. I’ve a fairly good concept of what I wish to do within the offseason to get again to the explosiveness I’ve been speaking about. Clearly, the exercise routine final offseason I couldn’t do as a result of we had been rehabbing to verify the knee wasn’t getting pounded.
“This offseason, it’s going to be full-go, similar to each different offseason. Subsequent yr, I’m certain, goes to be a method totally different story.”
Having Grandal in high type, each offensively and defensively, is a significant element to White Sox success. The entrance workplace in all probability will search for extra steadiness from the left facet offensively, even with the group’s No. 2 prospect, outfielder Oscar Colas, seemingly on the way in which. At present, Grandal, Yoán Moncada and Gavin Sheets are the first presences from the left facet.
The 33-year-old Grandal is also a frontrunner and a driving drive in ensuring this blip for a proficient crew lasts just one yr.
“Coming in figuring out what we had, figuring out what we will do and figuring out what we wanted to do, after which rapidly all the pieces simply sort of going out of the window, it is eye-opening,” Grandal stated. “We perceive the duty. We perceive what’s forward and what it’s that we have to do in an effort to not be on this state of affairs, as a result of fairly frankly, it is sort of bizarre for me to not be game-planning or beginning to have a look at video for whoever it’s that I’ll face within the postseason.”
